Sunak refuses to rule out cabinet reshuffle on Friday amid Tory fears over byelection defeats – as it happened

5.40pm BST

Afternoon summary

• Rishi Sunak has refused to rule out having a government reshuffle on Friday. The Conservatives fear they will lose three byelections tomorrow, including in two seats where they had majorities of around 20,000 in 2019, and there is considerable speculation that Sunak may respond by bringing forward a reshuffle originally scheduled for September. (See 3.26pm.)

• Rishi Sunak and Ben Wallace have formally apologised to the Commons for the decades-long ban on LGBT people serving in the UK armed forces, after the publication of a government-commissioned review.

• UK inflation fell further than expected in June to 7.9% amid a sharp fall in petrol prices, easing forecasts for how aggressively the Bank of England will raise interest rates over the coming year.

• The Conservatives have selected Susan Hall as their candidate for next year’s London mayoral election, with the strongly pro-Boris Johnson, Donald Trump-supporting assembly member likely to be seen as an outsider to defeat Sadiq Khan.

Rishi Sunak (right) and Tata chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran inspecting a battery cell during a visit to Jaguar Land Rover for an announcement about a new electric car battery factory this afternoon. Photograph: Reuters

Updated at 5.42pm BST

5.34pm BST

Nick Macpherson, the former permanent secretary at the Treasury, has joined those criticising Coutts for the way it has treated Nigel Farage. In an interview with LBC’s Tonight with Andrew Marr, Macpherson said:

I think this is a worrying development. I also am worried that the bank had commented on Mr Farage’s income and wealth in public, at least it appeared to brief newspapers last week or the week before. And I think the government is responding to wider unease amongst all of us.

Getting a good service out of your bank is difficult enough at the best of times, but if they’re just going to make, on the face of it, fairly arbitrary decisions about your beliefs or politics, I think that is quite a dangerous development.